REDLANDS — Redlands East Valley’s Brooke Harris understands the girls water polo season is only so long, and at this point in the playoffs it can end at any moment.

But Harris wasn’t going to let it end in Saturday’s CIF-Southern Section Division 5 quarterfinals. With one fierce move in the most frantic of moments Harris, a transfer from Redlands High School, scored in the final seconds to give Redlands East Valley an 8-7 win over Cerritos.

“My time as a Wildcat has been way too short,” said Harris, who transferred to REV for her senior year. “I knew it couldn’t end today. I knew what I had to do.”

What she did was help land Redlands East Valley (23-8) in its fourth consecutive CIF semifinal.

“For me, this is huge,” Harris said. “I never made it this far in CIF. It’s a big deal for me. Being on this team, it just means so much more.”

The match was tied at 7-7 and Redlands East Valley had possession with less than 10 seconds to play in regulation. Goalie Ariana Olmos sent the ball to Harris, who took the shot just before the final buzzer.

“I heard the foul whistle and knew I had to shoot,” Harris said. “There was no time left. It had to be done. I did it for the team.”

The five-time Citrus Belt League champion Wildcats resume the playoffs on Wednesday at Whittier College.

“Emotional, so emotional,” REV coach Ryan Williams said. “An emotional ride. We come out and play 24 minutes of water polo where we dominated. Then we have about a three-minute lapse and they score four goals.

“We were down but we hung in there.”

Williams made a handful of moves during the wild finish that proved to be critical. Redlands East Valley trailed 7-4 with just under five minutes to play when Williams pulled goalkeeper Alexis Hollinrake out of the cage and put her in the offensive set.

Hollinrake scored a minute later to make it 7-6. Then, 30 seconds after that goal, Hollinrake passed to Maddy Wieseler, who scored the game-tying goal.

“I moved her out of the cage and it was a big thing,” Williams said. “She is an awesome field player.”

In the cage for Hollinrake was Olmos, who produced a series of point-blank saves in the closing moments.

“Ariana was coming up big for us,” Williams said. “She really stepped up. To come off the bench in that kind of moment is just real big.”

Hollinrake’s presence, however, was the game-changer.

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“Coaches say that every team needs a spark,” Hollinrake said. “I guess that is what I gave the team. I don’t know what it is but when I go in, it just hits them. Something goes off. And the game changes just like that.”

Redlands East Valley had a strong first quarter, thanks to goals by Maria Birck and Maddy Wieseler. Cerritos tied the game at 2-2 but Wieseler struck again with a lob shot that found the top corner of the net and gave Redlands East Valley a 3-2 edge at halftime.

Wieseler scored early in the third quarter to put REV ahead 4-2, but Cerritos responded with a furious four-goal flurry that gave the Dons a 6-4 lead entering the fourth quarter and setting up the Wildcats’ late heroics.

“The game is not over until that last buzzer goes off,” Hollinrake said. “You play until it is over. That is what we did.”